Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal vs Kunal Kamra: Industry voices react to public spat over EV service delays

Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal’s fiery exchange with comedian Kunal Kamra over customer service issues has caught the attention of not just social media users but also industry stalwarts, with many offering their views on the situation. What started as a public argument over electric scooter service delays has now morphed into a broader conversation about marketing practices, transparency, and the struggles of building large-scale businesses in India’s EV market.

The controversy began when Kunal Kamra criticised the service quality at Ola Electric's service centres, sharing an image of a large number of scooters waiting for repairs and calling out the company for mistreating Indian customers. Kamra tagged Roadways Minister Nitin Gadkari and other government bodies, raising the question of whether Indian EV users deserve such service.

Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal hit back, accusing Kamra of posting a "paid tweet" and sarcastically offering him a job at Ola. Aggarwal also mocked Kamra’s comedy career, saying, “I’ll even pay more than you earned for this paid tweet or from your failed comedy career.”

Influencer calls out paid promotions
The argument took a new turn when social media influencer Aditya Shah revealed that Ola Electric had recently approached him for a paid promotion on Twitter, fuelling the discussion on the company’s marketing strategies. Sharing a screenshot of the request, Shah said, “While the Ola Electric CEO rants on someone else's paid tweet or not, I & multiple influencers were approached to do a paid tweet about Ola just as recently as last month.” He called on regulators to look into the matter, suggesting that companies should not resort to such tactics to manage their public image.

Entrepreneurs speak up for Bhavish Aggarwal
While Kamra’s post and the paid promotion claims garnered attention, some industry voices have shown support for Bhavish Aggarwal and the challenges he faces in scaling an EV company in India. Entrepreneur Vatsal Sanghvi spoke out in defence of Aggarwal, recognising the immense effort required to grow a business like Ola Electric.

“Bhavish has probably done something crazy and put in a humongous amount of effort to make Ola Electric so big. Most of us can’t even imagine what it takes,” Sanghvi said. Although he acknowledged the issues surrounding customer service, he sided with Aggarwal, noting that founders often face heavy criticism. “When someone who thrives on pulling others down for a living comments on it, it’s bound to hit a nerve.” However, Sanghvi also suggested that Aggarwal could have handled the situation with better communication.

Political reactions
The controversy even caught the attention of political figures, with Congress Kerala weighing in on the perceived bias in the government’s support for Ola Electric. The party alleged that the Modi government has favoured Ola under its Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, leaving other homegrown EV companies like Ather Energy out in the cold.

“OLA Electric gets massive subsidies under the PLI scheme from the Modi government, but why Ather Energy, a homegrown EV company, doesn’t get the same support?” the party asked in a tweet.  They also shared a video of Ather CEO Tarun Mehta talking to Nikhil Kamath about a “faulty document.” Kerala Congress claims that they believe the discrepancy was a deliberate move to favour Ola Electric.